Surprise: Half-Marathon today!

Even though I signed up for Grete's Great Gallop over two weeks ago, I'm still surprised to find myself awake at 6:30 on a Saturday getting ready for a race. I wasn't planning on running a Half-Marathon before the NYCM due to our depleted travel funds--and I was cool with that. But then my friend from middle school, who now lives in New Jersey and is also running the NYCM talked me into running the Gallop--not that it was a hard sell: $30 for a Half-Marathon that I don't have to travel to it.

There are no medals given out at this race (boo!), but I'm looking at it purely as a tune up for the NYCM (ahem, which is 29 days away!). I only have one goal: to PR at this race. That will be difficult because Central park is so hilly, but then again, I am very familiar with the park and know where I can slow down and where I can speed up. If all goes well, hopefully this will be a confidence booster heading into November 1.

Per usual, I've come up with a playlist for this race. Unlike in the past this playlist took less than an hour to put together. That's probably because I've added a lot of new music to the ol' iTunes library over the past month. Here's what I'll be listing to during the Gallop:

• Proud Mary; Tina Turner
• Ulysses; Franz Ferdinand
• Ain't No Rest for the Wicked; Cage the Elephant
• Under Control; Parachute
• Lucid Dreams; Franz Ferdinand
• Bulletproof; La Roux
• Tears Dry On Their Own; Amy Winehouse
• Heavy Cross; Gossip
• PYT; Michael Jackson
• Spaceman; The Killers
• Always Where I Need to Be; The Kooks
• Lisztomania; Phoenix
• Heads Will Roll; Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Jump In The Pool; Friendly Fires
• Resistance; Muse
• Can You Feel It; Michael Jackson
• HAPPY Radio; Edwin Starr
• Blinded By the Light; Manfred Mann's Earth Band
• I Saw It on Your Keyboard; Hellogoodbye
• Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough; Michael Jackson
• Uprising; Muse
• The Love You Save; Jackson 5
• Zero; Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Beat It; Fall Out Boy
• I Don't Feel Like Dancin'; Scissor Sisters
• Reptilia; The Strokes
• Let's Dance to Joy Division; The Wombats
• The Pretender; Foo Fighters

Now that I've typed up the list I realize there are a ton of MJ songs in the mix. Well, that's partially because like the rest of the world we felt compelled to buy his best of albums after he died, but also because they actually turn out to be great running songs. He may (or may not) have liked little boys, but you have to admit the man made some kick ass music.

I'm a little worried about the race because I slept like crap last night and the night before. A lot of stuff has been going down on the employment front in the past week and it has me excited and stressed to the Nth degree. So much so that I'm also having trouble eating--which is next to impossible. By the middle of next week I should be able to share--and I promise, it is BIG big news.